• 1-Gatchaman R: Silent All These Years

SILENT ALL THESE YEARS

(Author's note: This piece is an epilogue of sorts to my earlier fanfiction story Gatchaman R: "Past the Mission". These story contains consensual m/f sex between Joe Asakura and my created character, Miya Washio. If you don't want to read it, it won't hurt my feelings. Only the redhead belongs to me; all Gatchaman series characters belong to Tatsunoko Pro.--eq

* * *

Years go by

Will I still be waiting for somebody else to understand?

Years go by

If I'm stripped of my beauty and the orange clouds raining in my head

Years go by

Will I choke on my tears till finally there is nothing left?

One more casualty

You know we're too easy

--Tori Amos

* * *

The sun slipped behind the distant treetops, and the last glimmer of light faded from the riot of color at the horizon. Joe Asakura watched from the doorway of the small traditional house, sitting on the edge of the wooden floor. It was the kind of house you'd expect to find in medieval Japan, not in the mountain regions of northwestern Ameris. It looked like a good strong breeze would blow it apart, but the structure was solid enough to have lasted two years, at least.

He leaned his back against the edge of the sliding panel that served as a door, wall and shutter and closed his eyes. God, the silence was blissful. For too long he'd been plagued by the constant low-level hum of circuitry inside his head, the faint whine of electronics and cybernetics that had kept his ravaged body going long past the point where he should have died. It hadn't affected his hearing, which had actually been greatly enhanced, but it never went away. It was always there, waiting for him when everything else was quiet, a constant reminder of what he had become.

He hadn't noticed its absence until the doctor at the mountain base had told him what he had most wanto heo hear and what he was least able to believe. I don't know how to explain it to you, Asakura, but you're human. There's not a trace of cybernetic enhancement in your body, and you're absolutely healthy. Your bone and muscle mass are denser than I would expect of a man your age and build, but it's all completely natural. There's nothing in you that you weren't born with.

He really should have apologized to her for calling her every filthy name he could think of in his native Sicilian and walking out on her, Joe mused, a wry smile curving his lips. He'd directed his outrage at her simply because he couldn't allow himself to believe what she was telling him. It had only been when he'd gone to the arboretum, sat still, and listened...That was when he'd realized that, impossible as it sounded, what Dr. Kamimura had told him was true.

He wasn't a cyborg anymore. He wasn't a freak. He wasn't a walking, breathing, functioning corpse with a bomb for a heart and a computer for a brain. He was human. The thought made him almost dizzy with pure joy. He had no idea how it could have happened--that he would go up into space with the rest of the Science Ninja to die, and return to Earth made whole again--and he realized that he didn't really care how it had happened. It had, and by the Blessed Mother Mary he was going to enjoy it.

"Penny for your thoughts, Condor."

Joe opened his eyes and smiled at the woman who was kneeling beside him. He'd been too lost in contemplation to hear her approach. "Hi there," he murmured. He swung his legs into the room and reached over to slide the panel shut behind him. "Getting chilly out there."

"Uh-huh. It does that this time of year."

"I thought you didn't like the cold."

"I don't, but when I found this house, it just sort of fe.rig.right to be here."

Joe could hear the wistfulness in her voice. "Are you sure you want to leave it?"

Miya looked at him as though he'd asked her if she was breathing. "It won't take much effort to close it up for the winter. I was thinking maybe we could come back here next spring. You should see the cherry trees in March. They're beautiful. It's like somebody picked up a piece of Kyoto and set it down here."

"Mm." Joe ld bad back and stretched his long arms and legs. "Any word from your brother?"

"Not yet." She waved a celphone at him before setting it on the floor beside her. "Ken said he would call when he and Jun got to the hotel. They're going up to the lodge tomorrow to see what work needs to be done."

"What are you going to tell him?"

Miya grinned. "That I'm being carried off by a relentless Sicilian and there's nothing he can do about it."

Joe laughed. "Damn straight." He reached for her and pulled her into his arms for a lingering kiss. Her fingers brushed the side of his face, tracing the sharp line of his cheekbone to his ear under the tousled fall of light brownish hair. Her mouth was soft under his lips, soft but not passive.

"Are you hungry?" she whispered as he came up momentarily to catch his breath.

He chuckled deep in his throat. "Are you talking about food? Washios have strange ideas concerning romance."

"Not strange, just practical. I don't want you fainting from hunger on me."

"Trust me, that should be the least of your worries. I'm a relentless Sicilian, remember?" He pushed her down to the floor on her back, and held her there as he covered her face with small, teasing kisses.

"BJoe-Joe--"

"Sh. Shut up and pay attention." His full mouth brushed against her skin, velvet-soft and fea-lig-light. She sighed in rapt submission as he kissed her brow, her temples, her cheeks, her jawline. When his lips sought hers out again, she responded eagerly, her mouth opening for him like a flower to the morning sun.

Joe sat up on his knees and stripped out of his leather jacket, tossing it aside. Her hands reached up to caress his bare arms, her fingers gliding over his smooth pale-gold skin like a blind woman reading by touch. The scars from all wou wounds he'd suffered since childhood were gone, and his flesh was smooth and unmarked. He felt her hands pull at the bottom of his tank top, and he lifted his arms so she could tug it off. He returned the favor for her by removing her sweater, which was the color of the wild lavender she'd always loved.

She sat up, and Joe pulled her against him and buried his face in her hair. Her bared breasts were warm against his hard chest, and she shivered a little as his hands trailed down her back. "Are you cold, cara?" he whispered into her ear. "Don't worry, I'll keep you warm."

"Joe...ahh, Joe." Her arms went around his neck as though she might fall out of his embrace.. "I don't ever want to be apart from you again. Not ever."

"Are you kidding? Woman, you're stuck with me now. Deal with it." He eased off her jeans and bent his hea tak take one delicate nipple in his mouth. Her hands fluttered to his head as he suckled at her breast, then moved down his shoulders and back, touching him everywhere she could reach. His sensitive fingers toyed deftly with her other nipple as he cradled her in one arm.

She shifted so that she could reach farther down his body. Joe growled in the back of his throat as found the zipper of his pants and pulled it down. He drew back from her to kick them off along with his briefs. When he sat up again, he saw Miya lie back on the tatami mat and hold her arms out to him. "Come to me, anata," she whispered. "Please..."

"Oh, cara." Joe moved between her long, shapely legs and positioned himself. Her eyes were fixed on his as she reached down and guided him into her. He stayed still for a minute, buried deep in her, and rested his weight on his elbows so he could give her warm, deep, slow kisses. Her hands stroked the tense curve of his back soothingly. He loved being with her like this--holding still inside her, joined with her, pressed up to the hilt in her, letting her feel the length of him even as he fought his body's urges to move, to drive her and himself to letiletion.

Slowly, achingly slow, he drew back until he had almost completely withdrawn from her, until just the sensitive head of his cock was still inside her. Then, just as slow, he pushed himself in again. She gasped and arched underneath him, urging himt het he held himself in careful check. Again he slid back until it seemed he would have to fall out of her, only he didn't, and again he moved just as deliberately forward. Her hands slipped down to caress the curve of his buttocks, and he groaned in response. Heuch uch was light, and he kept moving slowly in her, knowing that this was driving her as wild as it was him.

The celphone lying next to Miya's head rang.

They both froze. Their eyes met, and in unison, they said: "Kuso."

The phone kept ringing.

"That has to be Ken," Miya said, her voice a breathless whisper.

"He's still got lousy timing," Joe grumbled.

The phone kept ringing.

"I..." Miya wet her lips. "I guess I'd better answer it."

She made as if to move out from under him, but Joe pinned her down, reached up and grabbed the ringing phone. He pressed the TALK buttod pud put it to her ear. "Wait! I--oh. Hello, Ken." She glared up at Joe as she took the phone in her hand. Grinning, Joe shifted his weight again, but he didn't let her up, and he was still buried balls-deep inside her. He watched her flushed face as strustruggled to sound normal for her brother. "I'm glad you made it okay--no, I'm fine, I just, uh, had to run to catch the phone so I'm a little out of breath. Oh!" She bit her lip as Joe moved inside her, just a little, to remind her that he was there. "Nothing. Hey, listen. I'm going to--" Stop that! she mouthed at Joe, who only winked at her and began giving her a series of quick, deep thrusts, the kind he knew made her absolutely crazy. "Oh!--uhm, Ken, I'm going to be j-joining Joe on the circuit for a while. He asked me along. Yeah, he cuh-came...came up right after you left. I'm going to close the house up tomorrow. Oh, yes...uh, yeah, of course I'll tell him we have to--stop!!--by. Look, I need to come--err, go. No, everything's fine, gotta run, kiss Jun for me, bai!" She turned off the phone and dropped it just as her orgasm hit. Joe felt her go d bed beneath him and she cried out as she came. He slowed down a little to ease her down, let her catch her breath, and so he wouldn't follow right after her. He wasn't through with her yet, not by a long shot.

"Kono yarou!" she gasped, giving his leg a half-hearted kick. "Ano baka!"

"What's the problem?" he growled, moving easily in her now, brushing his lips over her face. "You could have just told him 'Sorry, Ken, I can't talk, Joe's fucking me blind'."

"Joe! br>


He chuckled wickedly. "Or you could let him listen in if he wanted to."

"You...you're...crazy."

"You make me crazy, woman. I'm just returning the favor."

"Joe..." She trembled beneath him. "Joe..."

He dropped the teasing facade and began to thrust in earnest. "Oh, cara, yes, I can feel you...you're so close...almost there, don't hold it back, let it happen..."

He rode her patiently through another orgasm, savoring the feel of her body thrashing beneath his, lunging up to meet his thrusts. She crested again and again, beyond words now, unable or unwilling to hold her shrieks of ecstasy in check. He could feel the beginnings of his own climax stirring within him and tried to ease up, but his body refused to obey. He couldn't make himself stop,eveneven slow down; instead, he moved faster, thrust harder, putting her over the edge again, and this time he came right after her. "Miya--oh God!" He sucked in a sharp breath as she grabbed his ass and held him rooted inside her. As if she'd pulled a trigger, he shot himself into her, his head snapping back as his screams mingled with hers.

He collapsed atop her, gasping, his cock still twitching inside her. Her hands stroked up the curve of his bacd ald along his heaving sides. He nuzzled into her flaming hair, his heart pounding against hers. "Miya...cara Miya..."

The celphone rang again.

Joe's head snapped up and he glared at the unit as though it had called him an Italian. Miya was reaching languidly for it, but his hand shot out and grabbed it first. "Hello? Ken? Who the hell do you think this is? Yes, I'm here at Miya's. What am I doing here? Well, right at the moment, I'm talking to yoA miA minute ago I was fucking your sister blind." Joe grabbed Miya's hand as it tried to go over his mouth and held it away. "What? Yes, we were fucking while you were talking to her. Why do you ask? I'm a what? You're damned right I am. Now be a good boy and leave us alone. I'll call you tomorrow if I get the chance. Good night, Ken."

Miya's outrage gave way to helpless giggles as Joe turned off the phone and tossed it out of reach. "You are such a reprobate."

"That's funny, that's exactly what Ken said." Joe rolled onto his back,lingling her with him so that she lay on his chest. "But you wouldn't have me any other way."

Miya nuzzled his throat. "As long as I have you, that's all that matters."

"Oh, you've got me, cara." Joe kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her. "But since I've got you, and I have no intention of letting you go, I figure it's an even trade."

* * *

But what if I'm a mermaid

In these jeans of yours with her name still on it?

Hey, but I don't care, 'cause sometimes

I said sometimes I hear my voice

And it's been here

Silent all these years

I've been here

Silent all these years

--Tori Amos

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